posted at 1:01 pm on February 22, 2014 by Ed Morrissey

Where, indeed? We have moment-by-moment reporting from the dramatic events in Ukraine, which is entirely appropriate given the rapidity and impact of the collapse of the Yanukovich government to mostly-peaceful protests. What about the entirely peaceful protests in Caracas and elsewhere in Venezeula, which have been met with gunfire and police crackdowns on dissent? Despite its closer proximity to the Western Hemisphere, the story has largely been ignored, and José de Córdoba believes he knows why:

From Mexico to Brazil, most Latin American governments have remained impassive as the Venezuelan government violently cracks down on growing protests, arrests opposition leaders and censors most of the country’s media.

Ideological affinity with Venezuela’s leftist government and economic interests, including the country’s oil largess, have complicated the response—or lack thereof—in the region. “The silence has been deafening,” said Michael Shifter, the president of the Washington-based think tank, the Inter-American Dialogue.

That lack of condemnation gives Mr. Maduro a lot of political leeway to increase the pressure on his opponents, according to former Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castañeda. “There is no Latin American government that is going to lift a finger,” he said.

That’s not to say that the governments of the Americas have been entirely silent. For instance, here’s a minister of the Kirchner government in Argentina:

Luis D’ Elia, one of President Cristina Kirchner‘s key political operators, blasted Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, who was arrested this week, tweeting Mr. Lopez “should be shot by a firing squad as an agent of the CIA.”

Oops! Well, how about the government in Brazil, which has taken to lecturing the US on issues of privacy and stifling of free speech?

On Thursday, the Brazilian Senate’s Committee on Foreign Relations and National Defense released a statement rejecting “all kinds of violence and intolerance that seek to undermine democracy and its institutions.” The statement appears to endorse the Venezuelan government position that protesters are part of a conspiracy to overthrow the Maduro government.

“We must condemn with the vehemence necessary any attempts to replace the legitimacy of the polls by undemocratic violence,” said Sen. Eduardo Suplicy, a former boxer, who proposed the vote.

If you get the impression that the governments of the region seem to care a lot more about supporting leftism rather than human rights, de Córdoba would congratulate you on your discernment.

But what about the US? The US government was very late to the Ukraine party — and perhaps wisely so, since the EU was closer to the situation and more closely connected to Ukraine. That’s not the case with Venezuela, especially in the sense of the Monroe Doctrine. And yet we have demonstrations in Rome in sympathy with the Venezuelan people who want to express their dissatisfaction with the Maduro government and Chavismo, without any peep from the US, and barely from its media or government.

A search for “Venezuela protests” at WhiteHouse.gov finds only six hits — and just one from the past six months. That was from a White House press briefing on Tuesday of this week, where Jay Carney said that the Obama administration was “deeply concerned about the violence,” but had nothing specific to say about the arrest and indictment of Maduro’s chief political rival on murder and treason charges. That may not be as bad as the cheerleading for Lopez’ persecution that came from Brazil and Argentina, but it’s hardly a robust call for free speech and multiparty democracy, either.

Venezuela has revoked or denied press credentials for CNN journalists in the country, following the president’s announcement he would expel CNN if it did not “rectify” its coverage of anti-government protests.

“They want to show the world that there is a civil war in Venezuela,” President Nicolas Maduro said Thursday in a televised speech.

Anti-government protests have become a daily occurrence in the country, and clashes with security forces or pro-government supporters have resulted in at least eight deaths, officials said.

What CNN is not showing, Maduro said, is “the people working, studying, building the homeland.”

“Enough war propaganda. I do not accept war propaganda against Venezuela. If they do not rectify things, get out of Venezuela, CNN, get out,” Maduro said, to applause from his pro-government audience.

“Fuera! Fuera!” people in the crowd shouted — “Out! Out!”

Hours later, government officials notified seven journalists for CNN International and CNN en Español that their press accreditation had been denied or revoked.

This would seem to give an opening to other American media outlets to focus on Venezuela, if for no other reason than either (a) competition or (b) solidarity, and perhaps that process has started. ABC News doesn’t have a fresh Venezeula story on its main website as of noon ET today, even though its Feburary 19th report is still the second-trendiest story on the site; NBC News has 15 mentions of Ukraine on its website’s front page, but not a single mention of Venezuela. However, CBS picked up the story last night, comparing Ukraine and Venezuela and wondering why the two stories aren’t getting equal treatment:

“If Maduro lets those cameras in,” Margaret Brennan says, and that is one big issue. Western media outlets had more access in Kyiv, and the local press was less controlled by the Yanukovich government than they are in Venezuela under Maduro. But it would be nice if the American media tried to pay more attention to Venezuela — and if the Obama administration started taking it seriously as well.

I am watching with increasing concern the situation in Venezuela. Despite calls from that country’s democratic opposition and the international community, the Venezuelan government has confronted peaceful protestors with force and in some cases with armed vigilantes claiming to support the government. It has imprisoned students and a key opposition figure. It has limited the freedoms of expression and assembly necessary for legitimate political debate, and just today tightened restrictions on the media, revoking the credentials of CNN en Español reporters. This is not how democracies behave.

Every government has a duty to maintain public order, and all sides, including the opposition protestors, must refrain from violence. The government’s use of force and judicial intimidation against citizens and political figures, who are exercising a legitimate right to protest, is unacceptable and will only increase the likelihood of violence.

I call on the Venezuelan government to step back from its efforts to stifle dissent through force and respect basic human rights. The government should release incarcerated members of the opposition and initiate a process of genuine dialogue with the democratic opposition. The solution to Venezuela’s problems can only be found through dialogue with all Venezuelans, engaging in a free exchange of opinions in a climate of mutual respect.

It’s a good start, but the Obama administration needs to keep the pressure on Maduro.

Addendum: The URL of the statement from State shows it posted today, not yesterday.

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Luis D’ Elia, one of President Cristina Kirchner‘s key political operators, blasted Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, who was arrested this week, tweeting Mr. Lopez “should be shot by a firing squad as an agent of the CIA.”

Nothing more needs to be said, this pretty much encapsulates all we need to know about the leftist mindset.

Venezuela political protests, February 2014
43m
Young supermarket worker killed in Venezuela when he rode his motorcycle into a cable stretched across a road; 7th death in 10 days of political unrest – @Reuters
end of alert

Late Friday, Maduro invited U.S. President Barack Obama to meet him for talks and condemned remarks by Obama’s top diplomat, John Kerry, as “arrogant” and “insolent.”

The U.S. secretary of state said earlier Friday that Venezuela’s “unacceptable” use of force and “judicial intimidation” against anti-government protesters would only increase the likelihood of violence. Kerry did not respond to Maduro’s call for high-level talks.

Maduro has accused the United States and international media outlets of plotting to overthrow his government. He revoked the accreditation of CNN reporters covering protests and ordered them to leave the country.

“We’re still without Internet. And some people don’t have water or electricity either,” said the reporter, Beatriz Font.

…

Later Thursday, the U.S. company Zello told The Associated Press that Venezuela’s state-run telecoms company, CANTV, had just blocked access to the push-to-talk “walkie-talkie” app for smart phones and computers that has been a hugely popular organizing tool for protesters from Egypt to Ukraine.

Zello supports up to 600 users on a single channel, and company CEO Bill Moore said it became the No. 1 app in Ukraine on Thursday for both the iOS and Android operating systems. In one day this week, Zello reported more than 150,000 downloads in Venezuela.

Some believe Venezuela’s information war, which escalated last week as the government blocked images on Twitter after violence in Caracas claimed three lives, is only just beginning. The protesters are fed up with a catalogue of woes that include rampant inflation, food shortages and one of the world’s highest murder rates.

The socialist government cemented its near-monopoly on broadcast media Chavez’s 14-year-rule, and social media have been crucial for young opposition activists as they organize and exchange information on deaths, injuries and arrests.

It’s not just Venezuela either. This question should be the top of the front page / on the cover of every newspaper and newsmagazine in the nation.

This is starting to go beyond naive and feckless. It’s approaching criminal negligence in terms of our own national security.

This Administration’s foreign policy was remiss in Libya, Syria, and Iran. It’s non-existent regarding Russia or the Ukraine. It’s actively in fear of Iran, Russia, and the PRC. We ignore and antagonize our allies and friends in NATO, Israel, Japan, Australia. Nations whom we should be reaching out to, we haughtily lecture like India and Indonesia.

The main focus of our ‘illustrious’ Sec State is not any of these crisis points, but the charade of man-caused climate change which apparently is a greater WMD than tyrannical and dictatorial nations with real WMD’s.

Our ‘leaders’ pat themselves on the back and say that they’ve reversed the opinion of the world towards the US…and sadly they are correct. Our allies distrust us. Our friends are treated shabbily. Neutral nations are insulted, lectured to, and discouraged from working with the US unless they also follow our misguided climate change initiatives. And our enemies are encouraged and facilitated by an Administration that seems to share their hatred of core US values.

“The government’s use of force and judicial intimidation against citizens and political figures, who are exercising a legitimate right to protest, is unacceptable and will only increase the likelihood of violence,” Kerry said.

Obama lifts up and encourages groups like the muslim brotherhood and wants to fund jihadists in Syria while not doing anything of real consequence for protestors now in Venezuela and for Iran in i think 2009 for the green movement…That’s very telling of him..

He really helped start the Arab spring with his speech in Cairo because the muslim brotherhood was invited to that speech..yeah..he doesn’t side with real protestors and freedom seekers, that much is obvious to me

John Kerry is a traitor to the liberal cause. Can’t he see that Venezuela is only pioneering the new breed of creative genius that only comes from freeing one’s citizens from jobs, having to cook, or worrying about one’s investments? Maduro is the darling of America’s left not just the Kennedy Clan who loved third world dictators before it was cool.

Obviously CNN is slipping. If I remember right they cut a deal with Saddam to stay in country.

CW20 on February 22, 2014 at 2:16 PM

Ted Turner is lauded as a pioneer the same way Hugh Heffner (a dirty old man) is credited with making sex more open. They in fact did change their respective mediums but not for the better.

CNN pioneered dishonest and biased news reporting. They even went as far as helping in the targeting US troops during Desert Storm (inadvertantly but only because they were more interested in reporting than troop well being). Abd Turner’s anti-Christian bias has shown up time and again even under different management.

John Kerry is a traitor to the liberal cause. Can’t he see that Venezuela is only pioneering the new breed of creative genius that only comes from freeing one’s citizens from jobs, having to cook, or worrying about one’s investments?

The government’s use of force and judicial intimidation against citizens and political figures, who are exercising a legitimate right to protest, is unacceptable and will only increase the likelihood of violence.

Hours later, government officials notified seven journalists for CNN International and CNN en Español that their press accreditation had been denied or revoked.”

Didn’t Obama and company try to do this to Fox News being in the White House Press Corps? The press coverage is probably muted so people don’t notice the similarities between what’s going on there and what’s going on here. The difference, we have a free press but they’re in bed with the administration. It’s about time people wake up and see how bad it is for the press to be sleeping with the administration.

Re Venezuela, there is a great video over on sipsey street irregulars.As for the Ukraine, there was a guest on coast to Coast the other night who is a Remote Viewer who said that what is going to happen in the “former USA” is much worse than what is happening in Ukraine as well as that there will be no elections in 2016 Food for thought.

If obama and his cronies keep it up we’ll be looking at the same thing here as in venezuela and the ukraine in a year or two.

Diluculo on February 22, 2014 at 2:47 PM

I really hate to say it but I don’t see anything less than the kind of protests we’ve seen in Ukraine or Venezuela will break the current status quo. Riots and burning vehicles are not just for sports championship victories, OWS demonstrations, and blacks upset that some thug got what was coming to him.

The left here and in Europe publicly pretends Venezuela isn’t happening, while privately thrilling to the spectacle of “Enemies of the Revolution” getting what they regard as their just desserts.

Leftists love it when people they hate die at the hands of people they romance. (cf. Che’!) The more who die, the better they like it. As to who they hate, that category works out to “just about everybody”.

Leftists’ definition of Utopia is “just us and those we deign to allow to live to serve us”. Why do you think so many of them are “environmentalists”? It makes calling for the extermination of vast swathes of humanity not merely acceptable, but fashionable.

Venezuela is Tienanmen Square writ large. And you may recall there was a deafening silence on the “progressive” side about that one, too.

The left looks at Maduro, and sees Dinsdale Piranha;

It is easy for us to judge Dinsdale Piranha too harshly. After all he only did what many of us simply dream of doing…(tic…controls himself) I’m sorry. After all a murder… a murderer is only an extroverted suicide. Dinsdale was a looney, but he was a happy looney. Lucky bastard. (shivers semi-orgasmically)

They don’t criticize him, because they want to be him.

/reposted from headlines because I didn’t feel like typing it out again

From Secretary Kerry “The government’s use of force and judicial intimidation against citizens and political figures, who are exercising a legitimate right to protest, is unacceptable“

Before the Obama administration, I thought I understood the meaning of the word “unacceptable”. Now I think the definition of unacceptable is: 1)a word used to describe activity that will be ignored if it continues, 2) a political word employed to relieve the U.S. government of responsibility, 3) a public relations term used by spokespeople to emphasize that the administration has fully addressed a topic,i.e., “The President and Secretary of State have deemed those actions unacceptable, so we have nothing else to add.”

The real mystery behind the FCC’s now abandoned “study” to police American newsrooms is why the mainstream media refused to raise holy hell over it. While Obama’s lapdogs refused to bark, it was conservative media who fought for newsroom independence and got the FCC to finally back down. Other than the media’s natural obedience to Obama, the fact that the fingerprints of left-wing billionaire George Soros have been found on the FCC study might also help to explain the media’s silence.

As we know, most of our feckless media takes their cue from the NYTimes. Clearly the Obama administration has told their friends at the NYTimes that we, as a nation, needn’t worry our pretty little heads about the disgrace that is the Cuba-infested thugs racy that runs Venezuela.

I’m still not convinced that what they want is an actual turn away from socialism. The instability has increased of late in part because of the shortage of goods, a natural byproduct of government intervention to artificially lower prices. The people are, in my view, not protesting for an end to socialism but a return to government-subsidized freebies/goodies.

People work with people like themselves – liars work with liars as an example.

This Dem administration will do nothing to help anyone except enemies. Being silent on Venezuela means they tacitly approve. I just hope we don’t see massive riots like these in the US but if we did, would we even know about it?

Remember – the “Occupy” movement was fine as long as the crimes weren’t committed and the organizers had their separate, healthy bank accounts. What the leftists (and too many American dems) never understand is that they can crush opposition for awhile, but sooner or later, it won’t work and then the risk is anarchy.